Bus fares in the North East are continuing to rise following government cuts to transport grants and fuel subsidies.

The region-wide Explorer ticket went up in price again this month, from £8.40 to £9.00 – the second price hike on the ticket in under a year.

The cost of the ticket has now risen by one pound since 8th May 2011, an increase of more than 11 percent.

As well as higher prices, our region has also suffered a large reduction in its number of buses.

Rural areas in particular have been hit hard. In Upper Weardale, County Durham, the number of buses running weekly from the remote village of Cowshill to Stanhope has been cut from 72 to 58 (31 percent), and now the dale has no service at all on Sundays or bank holidays.

The cutbacks have been made due to a 28 percent reduction in funds given to councils, combined with the end of ring-fencing of grants for bus services, and a 20 percent cut in the Bus Service Operators’ Grant paid to the bus companies.

That’s because the ConDem government has more important things to spend our money on – £9.1 billion a year in foreign aid, £65 billion to the EU, £4 billion a year fighting pointless foreign wars, £8.8 billion a year to fund mass immigration, and £12.5 billion in Euro bailouts, to name just a few.

Just a fraction of this money thrown down the drain by the LibLabCon elite would ensure that no such bus routes would have to be cut and no price hikes enforced.

A British National Party government would eliminate this yearly wastage of tens of billions of taxpayers’ money and thus ensure our public transport is properly funded.